


Infinite Possibility

by Phantom



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 17:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom/pseuds/Phantom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was, at once, a challenge to everything he knew to be true and an affirmation of everything he hoped could be. Billy contemplates his new identity as a Power Ranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Infinite Possibility

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).



> Whenever I sign up for an exchange I always try to write the story I think my recipient will like best, because, well, that's the point. So when I saw that Billy was your favorite I had a brief moment of panic because while I'd always liked him a lot, I'd never developed obsessive amounts of headcanon for him, either. But I thought about him a lot and rewatched a lot of MMPR (never a bad thing!), and over the course of it I've gained a new appreciation for Billy. So, thank you. This was a joy to write, and I hope you enjoy it.

The morpher itself was bulky. Conspicuous. He fiddled with it awhile, exploring the structure and composition. The coin fixed to the center, though, was smaller, smoother, roughly the dimensions of a half dollar but not as dense. When he slid the coin out of place and puzzled over it with his thumbs, it was near weightless in his palm. The coin, one face etched with the profile of a triceratops, could, perhaps, be mistaken for a trinket. 

Billy pressed the coin into place once more and considered the morpher as a whole. It was, at once, a challenge to everything he knew to be true and an affirmation of everything he hoped could be.

He sat at his desk with the morpher resting on the open pages of his encyclopedia. Volume T, for triceratops. (He was woefully unfamiliar with the science of paleontology.) Other volumes cluttered his workspace and below them, somewhere, lay his neglected homework. He found it difficult to concentrate. Even calculus paled in comparison to Zordon, Alpha 5, and the Command Center, not to mention the bizarre reality in which he, of all people, became a superhero.

“You don’t have to be strong for martial arts,” Trini had told him earlier. At the time, he had found it reassuring. Certainly, he was lacking in physical strength and he often found that things such as physical coordination eluded him. His (rather bumbling, he thought) attempt to fight off the Putties evidenced that, as did his earlier struggle in Jason’s karate class. 

He’d joined the class for a challenge. He’d wanted something he’d have to work at for progress, and he was willing to admit that it had been harder than he’d been prepared for. That had been dejecting, but not worrisome. But now, now he found himself in an unexpected position. His friends and the entire world depended on him with their lives. It was a responsibility he felt utterly unprepared for.

His only weapon against the power of evil was the spirit of an herbivorous dinosaur of the late Cretaceous Period, and his ally was an interdimensional alien trapped in a time warp.

His skeptic side, his rational, scientific self listed all the scenarios that explained away the unexplainable events of the day. That spinach juice he’d drunk to avoid hurting Ernie’s feelings had gone bad, maybe. It was a distinct possibility.

But it was the part of him that believed in the extraordinary that had led him to science in the first place. It hadn’t been his ability so much as his desire to hold the knowledge of magic in his hands. He had wanted to unravel the impossible, and each time he heard it said that there was something that couldn’t be done, the more he hoped that someone, somewhere found a way to make it so. And this was the part of him that said, maybe.

The theory was there. He’d even considered it before, in an abstract sort of way. Technology built on itself. It was a game he would sometimes play with himself when he’d had time to pass. He’d thought, if _this_ had happened, and then _that_... in his mind’s eye, the possibilities had stretched out infinitely before him. He’d never expected to see such advanced technological achievements such as Alpha 5 or the zords in his lifetime. 

He wondered if Zordon would allow him a closer look. 

He could think of no finer privilege than to examine the inner workings of his zord up close, to strip away the outer shell and see how its heart beat. Would he even recognize what he saw? Was it electricity? Solar power? Something more alien?

This was where his strength lay.

He would have been a poor choice for leader. There was no shame in admitting that because he harbored no particular desire to be the leader. Jason was a good choice. He had the patience for it, and he understood people. Billy thought Zack would have been a good choice, too, or maybe Kim (though she would have been a terror).

Trini was unflinchingly loyal and uncompromising in all matters of doing what was right. She was quiet, thoughtful, and _smart_ —she understood science at a deeper level than any of them besides Billy himself. And while science-smart didn’t translate to tactical-smart, she was quick and observant and she would have learned. She would have been an unconventional choice for leader, but he would have followed her. 

And she would have hated the responsibility, almost as much as Billy would.

The thought of people—his _friends_ , no less—depending on him in battle made him laugh. Or it would have, if it hadn’t made him queasy first. It hadn’t been so bad, once he had morphed. He had known what to do, then. But before that—he’d decided then and there that karate class wasn’t a personal challenge any longer. It was a necessity.

Who ever heard of a superhero who couldn’t fight?

Billy wondered what the others were doing right now, if they were struggling with their newfound powers and responsibilities as he was.

But while he struggled, there was something else he could be doing. Billy set his morpher carefully to the side of his desk. Then, on second thought, he stood and went to his bed, leaving it on his pillow. It didn’t look breakable, but he didn’t want to take the chance and have to ask Zordon for a new one. He closed all the encyclopedias and returned them to his bookshelf without taking the time to alphabetize them. His homework papers he stuffed inside a drawer. 

This was what he was good at. He couldn’t lead the team and didn’t want to, but the team needed more than a leader. Zordon had provided them armor and weaponry, but Billy’s mind had gone to work before his feet had remolecularized in the Command Center. He was bursting with ideas, but it seemed wise to start simple. Zordon’s technology was unfamiliar to him. That would change, but it could wait. There were a few smaller creations he had in mind.

The first was a narrow-beam transmission module that would allow wave function over an extended interval. It was more advanced than anything he’d attempted before, but after what he’d seen today he knew it would be possible. It could take some time to get it precisely right, though, and he wasn’t sure how much time he had. 

He got to work.


End file.
